Sealing devices of various configurations are presently used to ensure a reliable seal on an object, such as a balloon, flexible tubing and the like. In one form, the device comprises a disc having a centrally located bore, which may be attached to the neck of a balloon or to a tube to pinch the latter tightly. Locking of discs onto many balloons can be burdensome and time-consuming, and staplers have been devised, as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,720,991 and 3,780,419 to R. L. Allison et al., that allow for easier application of the discs onto the object being sealed.
The preferred machine includes a sealing station to which successive discs, stored in a face-to-face relation on the loadable magazine having an elongated rod, are delivered automatically by a spring and by a feeding mechanism in the form of a stripper. To seal the balloon, the neck is stretched across the sealing station and placed in the hook of a power-driven needle, which is shifted inwardly to cause the hook to draw the neck forcibly through the hole in the disc, and thereby double over the neck and anchor the disc to the neck of the balloon.
The applicants herein have devised a balloon clip of unique design which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,103. It has two arms with coacting locking means comprising C-shaped flanges which retain and seal an object within an interior clamping area. Staplers of the type shown in the Allison et al. patents are not usable with clips of this general character.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a clip stapler device of easy construction for manual use with balloon clips, preferably of the type disclosed in applicants' U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,103.